Choosing an ISO 22000 certification body: accreditation, food chain categories, audit days and how to compare quotes

What accreditation means for an ISO 22000 certification body

Two documents govern the bodies that certify food safety management systems. ISO/IEC 17021-1 applies to all management system certification. ISO 22003-1:2022, published in June 2022 in place of ISO/TS 22003:2013, adds the food-specific layer: how the food chain is classified, what auditors must know for each part of it, and how audit time and multi-site sampling are worked out.

An accreditation body assesses the certification body against both texts and records the result on an accreditation schedule. Accreditation bodies are, in turn, recognised through the Global ACI arrangement. Global ACI began operating on 1 January 2026 and took over the roles previously held by IAF and ILAC.

Recognition is granted field by field. A body accredited for ISO 9001 is not thereby accredited for ISO 22000, and an FSMS accreditation limited to catering tells you nothing about its competence in a dairy.

How to check the accreditation in four steps

1. Get the legal entity in writing. Ask for the name of the company that will sign the certificate, its accreditation body and its accreditation number.
2. Confirm the accreditation body. Open Global ACI's list of recognised accreditation bodies, filter by the food safety scope and check that the accreditation body is listed for it.
3. Read the schedule in the accreditation body's directory. ISO 22000 should appear for that entity, the accreditation should be current, and the food chain categories on it should include yours.
4. Search IAF CertSearch. The database kept the IAF name after the transfer to Global ACI. Look for ISO 22000 certificates the body has issued to operations like yours.

Checking a supplier's certificate, rather than a body's accreditation, is covered in our guide on how to verify an ISO 22000 certificate.

Food chain categories and auditor competence

ISO 22003-1:2022 divides the food chain into nine clusters, eleven categories and twelve subcategories in its Annex A. The same classification serves two purposes: it defines the scope of a certification body's accreditation, and it describes the scope of the certificate a food business receives. In plain terms, the chain runs from primary production through processing of food and feed, catering, retail and wholesale, transport and storage, to the production of packaging and other services to the chain.

The standard also requires the certification body to establish auditor and audit team competence to the category or subcategory. Decide first where your operation sits, and settle the wording in our guide to ISO 22000 scope. Then ask each body, in writing:

• Which category or subcategory will our certificate fall under, and is it on your accreditation schedule today?
• Who will lead Stage 1 and Stage 2, and how many FSMS audits in our category have they led?
• If our lines span two categories, how will the audit team cover both, and does that change the days?
• Are you also licensed for FSSC 22000, in case a customer later asks for a GFSI-recognised scheme? The differences are set out in HACCP vs ISO 22000 vs FSSC 22000.

What an ISO 22000 quote must state

Quotes can be compared only when every body has priced the same operation. Send the same pack to each: products and process lines, sites, shifts, headcount including seasonal workers, the number of HACCP studies, outsourced processes and any certificates you already hold.

Audit time for food safety does not come from a generic table. ISO 22003-1:2022 sets it in Annex B from three inputs: a basic duration that depends on the category, additional time for each HACCP study beyond the first, and time linked to the effective number of full-time equivalent employees. Agree the number of studies before quoting rather than leaving each body to guess. A complete quote shows:

• The certifying entity, its accreditation body and number, with ISO 22000 and your category on the schedule.
• Audit days for every audit in the cycle, Stage 1, Stage 2, two surveillance audits and recertification, each with the inputs used.
• Sites and sampling: which sites each audit visits and, where sampling is proposed, the documented rationale. ISO 22003-1 gives sampling formulae for only some categories.
• Shifts and seasons: whether the auditor will see production running, including night shifts or a seasonal line.
• Other charges: application, certificate issue, follow-up visits for findings, rescheduling, travel basis and audit language.

How each of these lines affects the total is explained in our guide to ISO 22000 certification cost.

Comparing three ISO 22000 quotes

The quotes below are illustrative composites of patterns buyers meet, not real offers: a sauce and dressings manufacturer with one plant, two shifts and three HACCP studies sends one pack to three bodies.

Quote A is the reference point. Quote B may become viable once the body shows food processing on its schedule and recalculates with the studies included. Quote C is cheap because it leaves out the audit, the accreditation and the cycle.

Warning signs

• A certificate promised in advance. The decision follows the audit, is made by people who did not audit you, and waits until any major nonconformity is resolved.
• No Stage 1. Initial certification under ISO/IEC 17021-1 is a two-stage audit; one visit, or a document review by e-mail, does not meet it.
• Days far below the others with no ISO 22003-1 working shown, which almost always means less time on your floor.
• A category mismatch: a schedule covering transport or catering offered to a manufacturer, or no categories shown at all.
• An offer to write your HACCP plan and then certify it. A certification body may not provide management system consultancy, and the conflict would undermine the certificate.
• Certification in weeks. Validation, monitoring and a mock recall need production time to generate records; our guide to the Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits shows what auditors expect to see.

Sterling's part in choosing the body

Sterling does not certify. The accredited body you appoint audits your food safety management system and makes the decision; the full sequence is in our guide to the ISO 22000 certification process.

ISO 22000 certification body: questions buyers ask